Harrington's Reg Westren marks 100 years

By
Hayley Sansom

A CHAT with Harrington's Reg Westren reveals the secrets to living a long, healthy life.

Reg and Olive Westren flanked by friends and family at his 100th birthday celebrations at Harrington Bowling Club on June 5.

Reg and his beloved wife Olive at Reg s 100th birthday party.

A CHAT with Harrington's Reg Westren reveals the secrets to living a long, healthy life.

For 100-year-old Reg it's plenty of fruit and vegetables and "a daily serve of Uncle Toby's Oats," but for those who know him undoubtedly it's a bit of cheekiness and a great sense of humour that have helped him over the years too.

After holidaying in Harrington since 1949, Reg and wife Olive moved to the seaside village permanently in 1981 and they haven't looked back since.

They love the town and the people and have made plenty of friends through their association with the bowling club and Reg's love of fishing. "It's a great spot, we love living here," he said.

Reg was born on June 1, 1914 and was the youngest of seven children.

"I had two sisters and four brothers," he explained.

Together he and Olive have a son and daughter and have subsequently welcomed six grandchildren and eight great grandchildren (so far). Although most of the family lives in Sydney, Harrington has always proved a popular place to visit and Reg and Olive's son regularly makes the trip up to help them with home maintenance and other things.

Reg hails from San Souci and remains a passionate St George rugby league fan, with a former player presenting him a signed jersey on his birthday. He played rugby league in his younger years and joined the army around the time of World War II.

"I lost my best friend in the war, he was in the air force and never returned, while my other good mate did make it back. But I was told to leave the army and work, so I did," said Reg.

Following his time with Gibson's Coffee Reg moved on to work at Sydney University, where he stayed for 29 years and became the university's curator.

"I got to meet lots of high profile people there, most of them involved with sport," he added.

Reg was responsible for the upkeep of the sporting fields and grounds, including preparing the cricket pitch before a match, the tennis courts, athletics field and more.

"It was a great job and I got free rent in the house there too."

He says he has enjoyed every bit of his life so far but admitted that the hardest part of living for so long is having to farewell so many of his family and friends.

"Unfortunately you lose all your good friends and those closest to you, it can be hard."

Still, through it all his positivity and sense of humour remain intact and he laughs about his "many girlfriends" who keep him going. Harrington celebrated Reg's birthday, with a good crowd of locals as well as family, turning out for his birthday celebrations at Club Harrington. He was spoilt with gifts, and a visit from member for Port Macquarie Leslie Williams who brought chocolates and was "very very nice".

Now he's looking forward to Olive's 91st birthday in September and the pair don't look like slowing down any time soon.